


Sonic: The Technocratic Era

by Awareness_Bringer



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 06:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13992651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awareness_Bringer/pseuds/Awareness_Bringer
Summary: The Duke of Soleanna couldn't abandon the Solaris Project, but by giving Ivo Robotnik free reign, the Earth shall face great peril.





	Sonic: The Technocratic Era

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of its associated characters and lore.**

**[STE]**

**Sonic: The Technocratic Era**

**[STE]**

**Chapter One: A Desperate Plea**

**[STE]**

Viewed by numerous citizens and tourists as a beautiful city, the Duchy of Soleanna was well-regarded in the international community for its scientific advancements tempered by the people's benevolent attitude towards nature and adherence to their peaceful traditions. While the architecture of Soleanna earned itself the privilege to be referred to as the City of Water, the people who called it home for the majority of it's history had worshiped the God of the Sun and Time known as Solaris as it was the Sun alongside the Water that gave life to crops. More significantly, it had been said that far in the past, Solaris himself took physical form in the appearance of a "living flame" that could telepathically speak to his most faithful believers and never be died out by the wind, but by the breath of a willing descendant of Soleanna's royal family. Which made the loss of Solaris a grave development for all of Soleanna.

"I still don't understand how it could've happened, Regis." Duke Ludovico, the ruler of Soleanna, said to his old friend, fellow scientist, and close confidant, Lord Regis, a full day after the most unlikable event in Soleanna's history had occurred. The two were in the primary laboratory of the Aquatic Base underneath the ancestral royal castle of Ludovico's family in Kingdom Valley. With the recent and unprecedented turn of events, the laboratories had to be cleared of the equipment the two intended to use alongside the Flame of Solaris. Even then, Regis could see that his liege was still more than unhappy with the circumstances.

What made the situation even worse for them on a personal matter was that without Solaris, the temporal research project they planned to undergo from harnessing the Flame of Hope was ended before it could even begin. And it happened so soon after Ludovico explained his plan to his seven year old daughter, Elise, and promised her that once it was finalized, her beloved mother, Duchess Paola, would be brought back to life as the robbers who claimed her life would have never descended to crime in the first with the power of time travel removing Mankind's flawed and sinful history. While the local unrest among the citizenry was disheartening on its own, explaining to Elise that the Solaris Project was prevented prematurely broke Ludovico's heart to the point he didn't stop Elise from crying. Of course, the public could be persuaded back into passivity with the right use of words and deeds, but dashed hopes take longer to heal.

Seeing the sadness on Ludovico's face, Regis sighed and had to bring himself to talk back to his monarch. "My Duke, I know how much this project meant to you, but perhaps the Bishop was right. Man wasn't meant to meddle with the powers of Gods. Solaris must've extinguished his own flame rather than submit himself to our would've been experiments. For all we know, our actions could've spread the Flame of Hope into the Flames of Disaster as our forefathers warned us."

Ludovico nodded in understanding, but, nonetheless, looked to Regis with a pessimistic glance.

"Logically, I would agree with you, Regis, but I have Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It's only a matter of time before Elise will be left alone with no family in sight to comfort her. The Solaris Project was my last chance for her to grow up with a parent still by her side." He turned to the floor defeatedly. "Now our God has abandoned me."

"At least you will still be able to be by the Princess's side for as long as you can, Ludovico." Regis replied somewhat offended and angry that his friend would use such terms and negativity in front of him. "Take comfort in that. Besides, you need to ask yourself why you wanted Solaris to clear a path through history in the first place. Was it for everyone's own good, Soleanna's, your daughter's, your deceased wife's, or your own?"

Ludovico glared upsettingly before appearing sad once more. "I despise that you have a point, old friend. Perhaps my Humanity isn't as strong as I believed it to be."

**[STE]**

Three days after his talk with Regis, Ludovico traveled to the city of Monopole. While Soleanna was a city-state that balanced nature, faith, and science, Monopole was renowned worldwide as a futuristic wonderland of sorts. Immediately after Regis' argument for Ludovico to move on, the Duke decided to secretly make contact with a brilliant, if somewhat reclusive scientist who could assist him in either recreating the Flame of Solaris, or at least finding a different method to achieve time travel, which lead to them meeting in person in Monopole and discussing the details on a hovercar modeled on a limousine. Ludovico knew it was wrong of him to betray his closest advisor's trust, but the temptation to achieve time travel was too hard for him to ignore.

"I just can't let the Solaris Project go, Doctor, even when I know I probably should." He explained himself to the scientist as the hovercar they were in traveled over the grounded streets of Monopole. "However, I am forced to recognize that both my resources, intellect, and windows of opportunity can only go so far, which is why I had to meet you." Making a sorrowful glance at his new acquaintance, Ludovico said. "I need help, Doctor Robotnik, and you maybe my only hope now."

The rotund bald man with blue pince-nez glasses smiled warmly at the Duke. "Of course, Duke Ludovico. I understand your desperation and will be even more happy to help, so long as you uphold your end of the bargain. I don't mean to sound self-serving, but science such as this demands a good amount of direction just as much as it promises untold benefits."

Ludovico nodded in agreement. "Of course, Doctor. You will have full oversight of the Project with as much clearance and resources you require. I just hope it will be enough."

"You need not worry, Duke Ludovico. I do have an IQ of three hundred, and I'm sure that my various businesses can clear out numerous problems that may come with funding. I promise that by the time my work is reaching its conclusion, the world we live in will never be the same again."

Ludovico finally smiled hopefully. "Thank you, Doctor Robotnik, your help will be most appreciated in the days to come."

"Please call me Ivo, my good man." Robotnik replied with a returning smile as the two shook hands.

**[STE]**

**To Be Continued**

**[STE]**

**Behind the Scenes**

**[STE]**

**A bit quicker than I planned, but I can always do the Great Coup in the next chapter or so. If there is anyone wondering what's going on, allow me to state this takes place immediately after Elise and Sonic erased Solaris at the end of Sonic 2006 where her father hasn't let go of his desire to achieve time travel and has even approached Ivo Robotnik for help. If you've seen the Archie comics, you'll see that was most definitely not a wise move to make.**

**I got extremely tired that I still haven't got more than four patrons on my Pat-reon for all the manga/anime-influenced one-shots and challenge stories I've made over the past year with some reviewers either not getting the messages I was sending with each one, or actually demeaning me in the worst way imaginable in the case of FFN's Ztk016, so I decided to get back to Sonic the Hedgehog writing and making it a good and long enough story to be read. Granted, I'm still stuck on my Sly Cooper prequel as well as my Mario/Sonic crossover and I need to get back to them, but I also thought of something for Sega Sonic while I was looking back on the two Sonic cartoon episodes called Blast to the Past Parts 1 and 2 (definitely love the music when Mobotropolis becomes Robotropolis) and sped read some stuff about Soleanna among other things on the Sonic News Network. When I didn't get a response about this thought from a good Sonic-themed DeviantArtist called Cylent-Nite, I eventually decided to make this my own work. Thus, The Technocratic Era had begun.**

**I know that Elise's parents weren't given names in either the video games or the Archie comics that probably would've shown them with such like they did with the G.U.N. Commander, but I figured Duchess Paola and Duke Ludovico were good historical references to the first and last Doges of Venice, especially since Soleanna is said to have been inspired by Venice. I also hope you all like the worldbuilding information I'll lay out here and there. In spite of Archie's frequent melodrama and later reboot, I did appreciate the worldbuilding found throughout the issues. It's arguably a novelist's greatest priority in writing next to developing characters.**

**As I go about writing this, I'll probably make some timeline adjustments to match the divergence I capitalized on this. Kind of like how a few fanfiction writers I've seen had Maria survive the Project Shadow fiasco, or prevent it altogether, even if they decided to go the yaoi route between Shadow and Sonic. No offense intended, I'm just a pure heterosexual interested only in heterosexual pairings and all that. Kind of a shame, though, that such AUs don't last long.**

**Speaking of pairings, on any possible Sega Sonic romances that I actually would like to do in this story, I'm thinking Sonic/Amy (crazy each may be, I think they do look nice together), Shadow/Rouge (I think they look hot alongside each other), and Silver/Blaze (few interactions in the games or not, I've seen some fanart that depicts them so sweetly) so long as they appear and interact well in this story. I know some fans Knuckles with Rouge and Sonic with Elise, but with respect, I like Shadow/Rouge better because they are both antiheroes and work together on the same Team Dark, and while I have become more than open to the Minks from One Piece, I'm still dubious about seriously pairing anthropomorphic characters in the images of Sonic and company with Human characters. I honestly don't know why I prefer the Minks to the animal peoples of the Sonic universes, aside from physical appeal, but I guess a major reason is because while the Minks presumably evolved to their present forms in the One Piece world, the Sonic anthropomorphism hasn't exactly been given a "scientific" reason in the games while the original Archie comics attribute it to post-apocalyptic mutations or whatever and even then the editor or whoever felt uncomfortable in marrying a mutated Human descendant to an armored ox. I know the FFN fellow who combined Halo with Archie Sonic to name a few called Chris000 depicts such things, but judging from their profile, I can tell they prefer realism through and through. I doubt they would like Gundam or any of the sort, regardless for any plausible reasons that would have teens and such act in military as well as political circles.**

**Anyway, please review my progress and at least give my Pat-reon a look over. I actually put up a poll for something One Piece-related I intend to work on.**


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